By Rachael Arnts–Morningside’s oldest residence facility received an extreme makeover during the summer. Students who live in newly re-modeled Dimmitt Hall see benefits, where RA’s see new challenges.
The start of the Fall 2015 semester was the start of a new era for Dimmitt Hall. The renovations include refurnished rooms, formal lounge and informal lounge. Also, there is a new kitchen with an exercise room and music practice rooms next door. On top of all that there is now air conditioning and free laundry on every floor.
According to Dimmitt’s Head RA, Sarah Yankowski, students are ecstatic about the renovations and especially how the rooms look. “It’s a lot to take in and some are having trouble being able to wrap their brains around it,” she commented.
Morningside junior Emily Muyskens is living in Dimmitt for the third year. The renovations were a contributing factor in her decision to stay in Dimmitt this year.
Yankowski has noticed that “people really gravitate towards” the Informal now that it has the big projector screen. To her, the general consensus is the air conditioning is the highlight.
Sophomore Nichole Townsend and Muyskens are both satisfied with the renovations, and say that the air conditioning is by far their favorite part. Townsend pointed out that she really liked the new furniture and wood floors in the rooms. She also comments that it just looks a lot nicer to live in and she likes the size of the halls.
There is plenty of positive feedback about Dimmitt’s new look and accessories. However, there are also new things to complain about.
When asked if there were any disappointments Yankowski said, “I think students expected more ‘oomph.’ Students were expecting more big changes.” She then went on to say that students need to realize that the construction workers only had a limited number of days to complete this task.
Students are also upset with the fact that a lot of the new items are not working correctly. For example, the automatic doors and air conditioning units have not been functioning correctly.
Muyskens’ least favorite part of the renovation is the automatic lights because they get stuck, and go off when she isn’t moving. Townsend said that she is annoyed when the heat automatically kicks on. She also doesn’t care for the white walls.
As an RA, Yankowski see’s some of the renovations as both good and bad. A big benefit is that all of the halls are connected. However, she feels like residents lose a sense of community on each hall. As for the kitchen she says it is wonderful; however, RA’s get stuck having to clean it. Also, the Informal can get rowdy with more students hanging out in it. Her room branches off of the main lobby and it echoes, so it gets annoying when she is trying to study or sleep.
Typically when a prospective student comes for a visit, they are shown some of the nicest things on the campus.
Each interviewee was asked if Dimmitt’s new look would attract more incoming Freshmen. “Definitely. Before I thought they [the rooms] were really depressing,” commented Muyskens. Townsend added, “Oh yeah, it’s a lot nicer. It doesn’t feel like a dungeon.” Yankowski believes that new students will want to help break-in the newness.
Another new thing in Dimmitt is instead of having one wing strictly for girls and one strictly for boys, the third floors on each wing flip-flopped. Is this a good thing?
According to Muyskens, so far it hasn’t affected her and it doesn’t bother her that boys now live above her. The only drawback that she can think of is the fact that the bathroom doors are required to be locked now. Bringing keys into the bathroom seems unsanitary.
Townsend believes that the mixing of genders is a good thing. To her dorms seem to have more problems if they are not co-ed. “At single-sex colleges there seem to be more troublemakers,” Townsend commented.
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